30th April 2002 Archive

Apple paid the Mac rumor sites a backhanded compliment today with the launch of its new eMac. The new machine closely resembles some of the mock-ups of 17inch CRTs created by Mac fans throughout 1999 and 2000, when it was one of the most requested new products. The eMac is the classic iMac shape form factor, with added pituitary gland trouble, and weighs in at 50lb, although the short-neck CRT used by Apple makes for a shorter product, by a fraction. The demand for overweight iMacs fell away a little when it became clear how fast LCD prices were falling, making a flat panel iMac economically feasible.

We've got denials of service, buffer overflows and root compromises, and we're frankly shocked, shocked, to report it. According to eSecurityOnline, your Solaris system is screwed six ways to Sunday, though we'll note that the majority of stuff-ups they cite are not remotely exploitable. Which is something.

If a PC shipped with Windows preinstalled, can you remove the OS and install Linux instead? Well, no, according to Microsoft. A somewhat obscure Microsoft site aimed at helping schools deal with donated computers flatly states: "It is a legal requirement that pre-installed operating systems remain with a machine for the life of the machine."

HP has been hit by a class action, claiming it misrepresented the capabilities of its DVD100i drive. The complaint, filed in Clark County Nevada, says that HP "manufactured, marketed and/or sold these drives with the representation that they would be able to write the less expensive DVD+R discs," but that such representations were subsequently 'disappeared', and that purchasers of the first generation of drives must now buy a $99 upgrade in order to obtain the features originally promised.